On what should've been our wedding day, my girlfriend, Selena Martinez, kicked me out of the City Hall. Then she walked right back in with her childhood sweetheart. She didn't even bother looking guilty about it. "Zach's kid needs a father on paper. Give me a month to divorce him, then I'll marry you." Everyone figured I'd wait around like the pathetic simp I was. I mean, I'd already spent seven years waiting for her. But no. That same night, I said yes to the arranged marriage my family had set up overseas. Just like that, I was gone from her life. Three years later, I flew back with my wife, a powerful CEO, Lavinia Sterling, for a family ceremony. She got tied up with work last minute, so she asked the local office to send a driver for me. Didn't expect to run into Selena after all this time. She took one look at me and said, "Okay, enough drama. Time to come home. Zach's kid is about to start preschool and someone needs to do pickup." *** I was walking through arrivals when I saw someone holding up a sign with my name on it. It was Selena. My ex who I hadn't seen in three years. She had her childhood sweetheart, Zachary Ford, with her, plus a few of her friends, all of them scanning the crowd. One of them nudged Selena. "Hey, isn't that your little simp Daniel?" Selena looked surprised for half a second, then played it cool. "What'd I tell you? Knew he'd come crawling back eventually." Her friends all looked at me with teasing smiles. "Well, well, Daniel Montgomery. Ghosted everyone back then, but now that Selena's loaded, I bet he's kicking himself every single night!" "Seriously though, if you were gonna pretend to bump into us, you could've at least dressed up. What's with the sweats?" "Wait, can you not even afford real clothes without Selena? Dude, that's actually sad." Back when we were together, I never showed up to see Selena without picking out the perfect outfit. Made sure I looked good for her every single time. Now? Why bother? My wife quit wearing business clothes when she got pregnant, so I started dressing for comfort too. These "sweats" they were ragging on? Lavinia had them custom made for me. But now, I realized something. They knew my name, sure. They just had no clue I was the VIP they were supposed to be picking up. When I didn't say anything, one of my acquaintance from back then tried to smooth things over. "Hey Daniel, good to see you back. You know, Selena's actually been looking for you this whole time. Asking around about you everywhere." Selena's smile went stiff for a second before she recovered, acting all casual. "Anyway, Zach's kid starts preschool soon. You'll handle pickup and dropoff." Same old Selena. Still acting like the world revolved around her. Thing was, I wasn't that pushover simp anymore. The one who used to put up with her crap. Seeing her again just pissed me off. I didn't want to waste another second with these people. I was about to tell them who I actually was when Zachary jumped in. "Look, don't blame Selena, okay? She's trying to help you out here. You vanished for three years. Who knows what kind of mess you've been in?" He looked me up and down. "I mean, just look at you now. You're obviously broke. Even if she wanted to hook you up with my personal assistant gig, you couldn't handle it." "But hey, watching my daughter? Nobody's gonna judge you for that." It's been three years, and Zachary was still the same smug bastard. I couldn't help but frown in disgust. Selena completely misread my expression and thought I was jealous or something. I could see the smirk in her eyes. "Come on, you clearly couldn't make it out there. Stop being difficult. Just watch the kid. Quit throwing tantrums and know your place." "We've still got the nanny's room, so don't worry about that." Everyone around us started snickering. "See, Daniel? Selena's looking out for you. She knows you're struggling, so she's got you set up with room and board." "All you gotta do is babysit Zach's kid. Way better than whatever sad life you're living now, right? Hurry up and thank her." Zachary glanced at his watch with obvious pretense. "Don't worry, Daniel. If my daughter gives you any trouble, I'll discipline her myself. I'll make sure you're treated well." Selena let out a cold laugh and glanced my way. "What's he got to complain about? He ran off over some petty issue years ago. Now he's back because he couldn't cut it out there. A little suffering will do him good." My heart stopped for a second when I heard that. After all this time, she still thought marrying Zachary was just some minor issue? The Selena who used to love me was long gone. She wasn't that girl anymore. The one who dragged me across half the city to find a doctor, crying the whole way even though she was the one covered in bruises. The one who had absolutely nothing but swore she'd love me forever. The successful woman who still wanted to come home and cook for me. Whatever. It was all ancient history now. Besides, my wife was already pregnant with our second kid.
I pushed those thoughts away. No point getting into it with them here. "You're supposed to pick me up, right? Let's go," I said, my voice flat. Everyone fell silent for a moment. They all exchanged looks, then burst out laughing. Zachary sneered at me. "Pick YOU up? Yeah right." He jabbed a finger at the sign. "Read it. We're here for Lewis. You know who that is?" That was my fake name. Of course I knew. "He's married to the Sterling family heiress. The guy backing Sterling Group." "Ms. Sterling's a total shark in business, but apparently she stayed single for years just waiting for this Lewis." "Everyone in our circles knows that if you want to impress Ms. Sterling, you go through her husband first. She absolutely spoils him." I couldn't help but smile. Three years of marriage and Lavinia's empire kept expanding. So did her reputation for being obsessed with spoiling me. Zachary never missed a chance to one-up me. He jumped right in, showing off. "Ms. Sterling bought a watch at Christie's a few years back. Some piece called Eternal Love. Twenty million dollars. She gave it to her husband Lewis as a gift." "Every guy on the planet wishes they were him." Then, he froze for a beat and pointed straight at my wrist, his voice shrill. "That's the one!" The whole group went quiet. Everyone stared at my watch. Selena grabbed my wrist and yanked it up to get a better look. Then she laughed. "Nice knockoff. Which waitress bought you this? Imagine giving someone a fake as a gift." She sneered. "Trash." I pulled my hand away and smiled, running my fingers over the watch face. That smile made something flicker in Selena's eyes. She lunged forward, grabbed my wrist again, and ripped the watch right off. I wasn't expecting that, so she got it before I could react. Zachary stepped up and took the watch from her, turning it over in his hands. "Actually pretty well made. Better than the fake I bought. Course, I'd never wear mine out in public. Too embarrassing." He kept examining it. "Foreign knockoffs really are something else though. Feels expensive." Then he looked up at me with a grin. "Wait. Unless you actually ARE Lewis? The legendary himself?" Everyone burst out laughing. I mean, to them, it was completely ridiculous. Lavinia Sterling was a world-famous financial genius. Cold. Ruthless. Cut-throat in business. And me? Three years ago, I was just some loser hanging around with this exact crowd. The same guy Selena had ditched at the City Hall. No way I was Lavinia's husband. Zachary spun the watch around his finger. "Hey Daniel, sell me this watch. I'll pay double." Worried that he might break the watch, I tried to grab it. "Give it back. That's from Lavinia—" Before I could finish, Selena's palm cracked across my face. My head whipped to the side. I tasted copper. "Shut your mouth!"
Selena stared me down, pissed. "Daniel, what makes you think you can just drop Ms. Sterling's name like that? You trying to get me fired or something?" Her friends all turned on me, looking at me like I was garbage. "Do you have any idea how hard we fought to land this airport pickup?" "Ms. Sterling acquired Selena's company last year. We all work for her now. The only way Selena keeps her position is by keeping Ms. Sterling's husband happy." "And you're here making up stories about you and Ms. Sterling? You gonna ruin everything for Selene!" I wiped the blood off my lip and slowly met Selena's eyes. Something in my expression must've gotten to her. She frowned. For just a second, I caught a flicker of panic. Zachary saw the way she was looking at me, and his face twisted. He jabbed his finger in my direction. "You ungrateful bastard. Selena's giving you another shot and this is how you repay her? Don't push it!" "Look, I get it. You're bitter. But trashing her reputation just to get back at her? That's low." Felt like I'd been transported back three years. Back then, no matter what I did, Zachary always managed to twist the story before Selena heard my side. Selena used to snap at Zachary whenever he screwed up. But then she'd turn around and tear into me instead. Just like now. She looked at me with pure disgust. "Pathetic," she spat. But this time, she didn't keep going like she usually did. After a pause, Selena pulled out a check for 200 grand and waved it in my face. "For old times' sake, I'm not gonna make this difficult for you." "Take the money. Buy yourself some decent clothes. If you don't wanna do the whole nanny thing, I'll hook you up with a real job in a few days." "Don't worry about it. Ever since Ms. Sterling bought out the company, this is pocket change to me." The way she looked down at me made me sick. Guess things have been going pretty well for her lately. While everyone stared, I pushed her hand away and took my watch back from Zachary. "No thanks, Ms. Martinez. I don't take handouts from strangers." I smiled.
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